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Northwestern Mutual releases designs for office tower

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. unveiled designs Wednesday for an understated but sophisticated lakefront building that will be the largest office tower erected downtown in 40 years.»Read Full Blog Post

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Looks interesting, and I appreciate the investment NML is making -- but I'll state the obvious: Thirty-two stories would be a statement in Omaha or Providence, but not in a city the size of Milwaukee. The scale is a little disappointing.

Just for reference, it would be the fourth tallest building according to stories in Milwaukee after US Bank, 100 E Wisconsin and the University Club. I agree and disagree. It's not like it is going to tower over every other building, but especially from the lake, this building will at the very least add to the skyline.

I believe just about all of us with nothing at stake would have loved for this building to surpass the U.S. Bank building in height. In regards to Omaha, disregarding their tallest building (One First National Center), their skyline doesn't hold a candle to Milwaukee's when comparing the amount of buildings over 200 ft tall. As stated earlier by melissahope, I too am very excited for the new and shiny developments which will be transforming the skyline in the near future.

Keep in mind that this is not an office building where multiple tenants will work - it's a private building where only NM employees will work. The proposed size allows for a 50% increase in their workforce - how much more can you expect them to do?

On the surface I would agree that 32 stories is not tall enough but keep in mind that stories of a building can be misleading of the actual height. Thus, let's find out how many feet tall it will be and that will tell us more.

Buncha whiners .... its about time we start expanding upwards in our downtown area. Any tall building regardless of story size is welcome, and yes we are all waiting for something to exceed that large ugly lego block building thats currently the tallest. Also One First National Center is larger than the US Bank building.

Des Moines and Omaha may have taller buildings but that's it. Iowa's tallest is 630, after that the next closest is 460 and their 3rd tallest is 365 feet. For reference, assuming The Couture is built, Milwaukee will have one 600 foot building, three more buildings between 507 and 550 feet, one at 450 feet, another at 425 and three more between 380 and 408.

Same thing with Omaha. Yes they have a 634 foot building, after that it drops to 478 and their third tallest is only 320. Think about it, Milwaukee City Hall would be the third tallest building in Omaha by 33 feet. Omaha has a grand total of four buildings over 300 feet.

Scale as you refer to it is relative, especially in this case. You're looking at a building that is larger in square footage than the US Bank bulding, but probably shorter. That means each floorplate is going to be MUCH larger than those across the street. This building is going to very, very wide, wider than any other building downtown, so at the end of the day, the scale is not going to be an issue. It will probably look a whole lot larger than the US Bank building. Plus, there are human benefits to not having a super tall building, like not having long elevator rides.

I understand the bottom-line issues NM may be concerned about, but then why couldn't they imagine a mixed-use tower that would have soared and made us all proud? Hell at this point I'll even settle for a building with an enormous spire atop just to push the limits! Looks like Milwaukee will continue to suffer from an image issue due in part to it's outdated cloud-punching skyline.

They used to lease several of the top floors of the bulding slated for demolition. There was a separate entrance and elevator for those floors. However, they terminated that arrangement many years ago and since then, have built for their own needs only. Since the company is "mutual," in other words not a stock or publicly traded company but a company whose "profits" are distributed back to policyholders by means of dividends, concern for policyholders is the first and foremost guiding principal. Along that vein, they do not spend money without a lot of deliberation and cost/benefit analysis.

For what it's worth, building stories are not tied to height, with residential buildings often a lot shorter versus the number of floors. NML originally said the building would be 550 feet, which puts it just a foot higher than 100 E Wisconsin into #2. If you look at the average feet per story for commercial buildings here, it'sn ot out of line. At 32 stories and 550 feet, that would be 17.2 feet per story. The 1990 NML building is 20.8 feet per floor, 1000 N Water is 18.5, Milwaukee Center is 15.2, 100 E Wisconsin is 14.8, USBank is 14.3. Compare that to the feet per hight of residential towers: University is 12.4 feet per floor, Moderne is 11.2, Kilbourn is 10.9. I'm not totally certain that the detailed NML plan is still for this to be 550 feet, but even at (only) 32 floors it will likely be about the same height as 100 E Wisconsin. Would it be nice to have something finally surpass USBank? Sure. But this is still a fantastic addition to our skyline and to the health and vitality of the city. It's far better than this growth happening in another city, and in my opinion better than it being a series of 4-7 story buildings and parkign lots built in corn fields someplace out on the fringe.

Tremendous addition to the Milwaukee skyline. It also compliments the Calatrava. NM's real estate investment division is comprised of many experts in building design and construction. They have funded, developed and managed many high profile projects in the U.S. My guess is that group is also overseeing this project. It'll be done right.

I agree! Do the people who commented actually PARK downtown? I get here early enough so It won't affect me, but most lots around this area are full by 8 or 9. Enjoy parking at the Italian Community center!

Having worked at NM since 1973, they have never been concerned about parking for the regular employees. They make sure the tops get their spaces and everyone else is on their own. I also used to ride transit but the Freeway Flyers were cut to the bone while NM expanded their service hours to 6 pm daily. Transit hours no longer meet the needs of employees working longer hours.

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